Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Game of Grains:
Why India’s agri-food policies
need a holistic review
by Raghavan Sampathkumar, SmartAgBiz, Singapore
T
Milling and Grain has invited Raghavan Sampathkumar, an agribusiness professional, based in Singapore, to
provide an overview of changing food policies on the ‘food basket’ in developing countries such as India.
Mr Sampathkumar analyses key trends in the global agri-food sector and writes commentaries and columns
related to food prices, food crisis, sustainability, hunger and poverty
he term ‘food basket’ here in India on how and from where population in different countries derive
actually means a real basket that an their calories revealed that in the past 50 years, more and more
average Indian homemaker takes to countries became dependent on fewer crops.
shop for groceries and food. Some In other words, diets of majority of people in several countries
decades ago, her basket (nowadays, across the globe are becoming homogeneous and the dependence
‘his’ too), will contain plenty of on few key crops such as wheat, maize (corn) and soybean.
vegetables, small millets and a rich If harvests in any of the major regions that produce these crops
variety of leafy greens in addition to face adverse weather, the ramifications go deeper and wider
staple grains, such as rice and wheat. across the globe. Prices tend to soar, and producing countries may
However, many of the above items had been vanishing, albeit take knee-jerk reactive measures to curb trade which will further
slowly from the food basket, and most of these are not even strangle global availability.
known to the millennials and Gen X. Any increase in food prices will push millions deep or deeper
Even the older generation, that is popularly called as the into hunger and poverty, particularly in the low-income food
baby boomers, and who used to consume these diverse deficit countries in Asia and Africa. These issues may cause
foodstuffs everyday had, to a large extent, forgotten them. The social unrest and may lead to unexpected situations like the recent
transformation of diet in India over the past few decades is mind- Arab Spring.
blowing in the extreme and disturbing to boot.
In this article I would like to discus the key macro trends in the Possible causes impacting diet diversity
consumption of select food crops in India; possible causes of the Rising disposable incomes in tandem with economic growth are
transformation of diets; potential impacts on health and wellbeing driving dietary changes particularly in favour of animal protein
and, finally, the importance of enabling policies that can augment which in turn drives enormous growth in corn and soybean
not only food but the nutritional security of a country. sectors.
Although this analysis is primarily related to India, the The much-celebrated middle-class boom in Asia where more
recommendations and implications can be applied to any country than a couple of hundred million people came out of abject
that shares a similar agrarian, demographic and socio-economic poverty in the last three decades and growing affluence in
profile. the middle-to-high income socio-economic classes have also
contributed significantly to this phenomenon.
Is shrinking diet diversity a serious concern? However, these few major crops have gradually been replacing
If one might think how relevant or important diversity in diets a huge variety of traditional and indigenous food crops across the
is - that is, the different types of commodities and foods that world.
supply nutrients - then they should consider this. In a recent study For example, in India, there used to be a time when minor
millets, such as ragi (finger millet), cumbu (pearl millet) and happened to be pulses, possibly the most important sources of
foods like cassava, were important parts of regular everyday diets protein for majority of Indians. Following are some of the reasons
but were eventually replaced, over several decades, with food that caused or hastened marginalization of pulses.
products derived from wheat, rice and/or corn. First, unsupportive ‘silo’ policies that are skewed and became
As incomes rise, diets undergo faster and greater transformation more favourable towards few crops such as rice and wheat.
and in the race to be affordable and available, obviously some However, the difference between growth in maize and soybean
food crops get sidelined. versus rice and wheat is that the latter duo are primarily policy-
Economists are conveniently blaming the country’s impressive driven while the former are market or demand-driven, mainly
economic growth and claim that people tend to move ahead
to consume more food items that are “perceived rich” and less
of those foods that are “perceived inferior” - but by no means
nutritionally! “Rising disposable incomes
However, what these statistics do not reveal is the resulting in tandem with economic
impacts on human health, nutritional wellbeing and eventually
productivity of the generation that misses out on important growth are driving dietary
sources of nutrients from these diverse food crops. changes particularly in favour
Policy hi-jacking: Marginalisation of non-strategic of animal protein which in
crops turn drives enormous growth
If one asks whether India’s green revolution has helped the
country to achieve self-sufficiency in food, the obvious answer in corn and soybean sectors”
from the people of the highest echelons of policy making and
politics would be a chest-thumping ‘yes’.
But, in truth, what was happening was literally “policy hi- from the meat sector. Major portion of the animal feed consists of
jacking” by few groups with vested interests and the intent to maize and soybean as raw materials.
maintain their status quo under the guise of augmenting food Lack of appropriate support mechanisms including
security. procurement; sufficient marketing opportunities beyond
In the process, nutritional security, health and wellbeing of the Government agencies; policies that hinder involvement of private
population have become collateral damages. players in sourcing directly from farmers; lack of processing
Apart from minor millets, one of the biggest casualties infrastructure and value addition are some of the factors that
August 2015 | 35
F
ng
r presenti
Window fo a tt ra ctively
go o d
the filling g e
le dosa
and simp
2
Hygienic
1 chniques
closure te
Discover Mondi’s
industrial bags innovations:
6
Reliable
through
protection
va lves
4
sealable
able r 5
Compact
3
Compost Suitable fo
s w it h o d c o n ta ct
n bag s fo
dimensio able film
biodegrad